Transformative Pedagogies: The Connection between Ancient Mediterranean Studies and Social Justice

The future of Classics in Higher Education looks grim. Over the past eight years there’s been a 33% decline in CLL and CIV majors, a loss of 600 undergraduates. When the average number of bachelor majors per department is 7.6 per year, it begs the question: can that sustain our field? The dissolution of Howard University and the University of Vermont's Classics Programs seem to be signs of a future trend. A future without Classical Studies.

Five years ago, I had the opportunity to redesign the entire Latin curriculum for my independent high school. My overriding mission was to create courses that engaged students meaningfully and taught skills that applied beyond the Latin classroom. Currently, I am concluding the first iteration of our Latin 5 course launched this school year. Its curriculum has been informed by those working to combat the abuse and misuse of Classics both within academia and the broader public. The course is organized in three parts: Identity, Education, Activism.

In academia, mind/body dualism has long created a paradoxical experience of embodiment. Faculty and students are expected to live “lives of the mind” as though the (higher, rational, transcendent) mind exists entirely separate from the (lesser, animal, material) body.

This paper aims to illustrate an educational experience in an Italian prison (Casa Circondariale di Rebibbia, in Rome) based on Greek tragedy, as part of a university project: the author organized reading and discussion groups concerning tragedy and justice, together with inmates (convicted of mafia, camorra, ‘ndrangheta groups etc.) and ‘external’ university students. In fact, some inmates were especially interested in Ancient Theatre because of the presence in Rebibbia of a very good theatre workshop (cf.

In my paper I will use an original course I taught for the Classics Department at UC Santa Barbara in Fall 2021, “Tragedy of Displacement: ancient theater and modern immigration, migration, and incarceration,” as a case study to discuss issues of activism, equality, and community-based learning in the classroom. The course taught students how to read themes of voluntary or forced displacement as they intersect with issues of trauma, gender, and identity in ancient Greek drama and contemporary adaptations.